[On July 23 the Grayburn Avenue Block Club in the Leimert Park neighborhood hosted a widely attended block party over the full stretch of the two-block-long street, running from Rodeo Road to just past 39th Street. Here is an account by the block club's captain, Lynetta McElroy. She writes to us that the event was helped by a grant from the Empowerment Council West Area and CD10 of City Council President Herb Wesson arranged the permit to close the street and provided the rental furniture.]

* * *

The Grayburn Avenue Block Party was a joy to organize and to execute because it resulted in more than 60 people who live within two long, shady blocks, eating a delicious lunch and chatting with each other with smiles on their faces. Every seat was filled by either a neighbor, friend, or law enforcement, with the latter making themselves accessible to ordinary citizens over a plate of that delicious chicken from Albertsons. Ten years ago, even long-time neighbors did not know each other. Now, residents know and mostly, like each other. We are organized. When s suspicious person parks or walks in the neighborhood, we contact each other quickly, and if the situation necessitates, I contact our Sr. Lead Officer Sonny Sasajima. To me, this is the reason why block clubs are so important--neighborliness and safety.

National Night Out is a nationwide day of community-police partnership. It is celebrated on the first Tuesday of August in thousands of cities and towns across the United States. This year the date was August 2. This was the fourteenth year that local block clubs in the neighborhoods around the intersection of Adams Blvd. and Normandie Avenue in South Los Angeles, in collaboration with the Southwest Community Police Station, have held a march through their local streets followed by a community potluck.

The host by tradition has been the Adams-Normandie Neighborhood Association (ANNA) on the north side of Adams, with support from the Van Buren Place Community Restoration Association on the south side, and the Budlong, Juliet & Catalina Block Club and West Adams Neighborhood Association, and Southwest Division LAPD.

A spirited march was held, with marchers blowing whistles, LAPD Cadets carrying some community banners, and police cars stopping traffic as the marchers threaded their way from 23rd Street and Normandie to Adams Blvd. and Raymond Avenue, then walked in the street on Adams to Normandie and back to their starting point to hear speakers and share dinner.

Tuesday, August 4, was the annual National Night Out on Crime, an event dedicated to community police partnerships. One local event was the 13th year of National Night Out held by the local block clubs in the area around Adams Blvd. and Normandie Avenue just south of the 10 Freeway. The main sponsor is the Adams Normandie Neighborhood Association (ANNA), joined by the Van Buren Place Community Restoration Association, the Budlong, Juliet, Catalina Neighborhood Association, and the West Adams Neighborhood Association. The tradition is to have a march through some of the local streets followed by a big community potluck. Southwest Senior Lead Officers as usual provided a police escort. They led and followed the marchers and stopped traffic on Adams and on Normandie for the march, with many children blowing whistles, to walk in the street.

At the potluck afterward, attended by about 65 people, there were brief speeches by new City Council 8 representative Marqueece Harris-Dawson, State Assemblymember 53rd District Miguel Santiago, Deputy Chief William Scott, the assistant Commanding Officer of Operations South Bureau, and Captain Sean Parker, the new patrol captain at the Southwest Community Police Station. In addition to the food brought by participants the La Barca restaurant on Vermont Avenue donated a number of trays of their fine Mexican cuisine. The event was chaired by Marco Flores, ANNA president.